Crying fowl: Crates of chickens fly out of tractor-trailer

NESCOPECK, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania State Police are crying fowl after crates of live chickens hurtled off a tractor-trailer on a Pennsylvania highway and the birds flew the coop.

The feather-ruffling incident happened at 6:30 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 80 in Nescopeck Township, near Berwick.

State police say about 500 chickens fell from the truck. Police and Department of Transportation workers spent about an hour gathering the fowl, some living and some dead.

Police say PennDOT will deliver the live chickens to the Agriculture Department and the dead ones will be thrown away.

Police say the driver of the truck did not realize he lost his load and kept going.

Traffic wasn't affected by the search.